鐔津文集 11.4

11.4

原夫菩提達磨。實佛氏之教之二十八祖也。與乎大迦葉。乃釋迦文如來直下之相承者也。傳之中國年世積遠譜諜差繆。而學者寡識不能推詳其本真。紛然異論古今頗爾。某平生以此為大患。適考其是非正其宗祖。其書垂出。會頒祖師傳法授衣之圖。布諸天下。而學佛者雖皆榮之。猶聽瑩未諭上意。某幸此竊謂識者曰。吾佛以正法要為一大教之宗。以密傳受為一大教之祖。其宗乃聖賢之道原。生靈之妙本也。其祖乃萬世學定慧之大範。十二部說之真驗也。自書傳亂之瞹眛漫漶。天下疑之幾千百載矣。今上大聖特頒圖以正其宗祖。然聖人教道必聖人乃能正之。是豈惟萬世佛氏之徒大幸也。亦天地生靈之大幸也。某固不避其僭越愚妄之誅。敢昧死引其書之舊事。推衍上聖之意。仰箋于祖圖。亦先所頒祖師傳法授衣之謂也。然其始亂吾宗祖熒惑天下學者。莫若乎付法藏傳。正其宗祖斷萬世之諍者。莫若乎禪經。禪經之出。乃先乎付法傳六十二載。始終備載。二十八祖已見於晉之世矣。付法藏傳乃真君廢教之後闕然。但謂二十四世方見魏之時耳。適以禪經驗。而付法藏傳果其謬也。若如來獨以正法眼藏密付乎大迦葉者。則見之大涅槃經智度論禪經與其序也。以意求之。而佛之微旨存焉。上叡性高妙獨得乎言謂之外。是乃天資佛記也。故其發揮禪祖雅與經合。宜乎垂之萬世永為定斷。三學佛子遵之仰之。天下不復疑也。其圖所列。自釋迦文佛大迦葉。至於曹溪六祖大鑑禪師。凡三十四位。又以儒釋之賢。其言吾宗祖。素有證據者。十位列於諸祖左右。謹隨其傳法正宗記。詣闕上進。塵黷宸眷。不任惶恐震懼之至。謹敘。

Now, Bodhidharma was truly the twenty-eighth patriarch of the Buddha's teaching. Together with Mahākāśyapa, he was the direct successor of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni. When [the teaching] was transmitted to China, the passage of years became distant and the lineage records fell into error; students, lacking broad knowledge, were unable to examine and clarify its authentic origin, so conflicting and divergent views have been common from antiquity down to the present. Throughout my life I have taken this as a great distress, and took the occasion to investigate its rights and wrongs in order to rectify the ancestral line of the tradition. Just as my book was about to be completed, it coincided with the imperial promulgation throughout the empire of the *Chart of the Patriarchal Masters' Transmission of the Dharma and Bestowal of the Robe*. Although those who study Buddhism all regarded this as an honour, they were still bewildered and did not fathom the imperial intention. Fortunate to witness this, I privately told the knowledgeable: "Our Buddha took the essentials of the true Dharma as the core lineage of the one great teaching, and took the esoteric transmission and reception as the patriarchal line of the one great teaching. That lineage is the primal source of the Way of the sages and worthies, and the wondrous foundation of all living beings. Those patriarchs are the great models for myriad generations in cultivating concentration and wisdom, and the true verification of what was expounded in the twelve divisions [of the canon]. Ever since texts and chronicles threw them into confusion, obscuring and erasing them, the world has doubted them for nearly a thousand years. Now His Majesty, the Great Sage, has specially promulgated the chart to rectify their lineage and patriarchs. Truly, the doctrinal path of sages can only be rectified by a sage. How could this be merely a great blessing for Buddhist disciples of myriad generations? It is also a great blessing for the living beings of heaven and earth!" For my part, not shrinking from the punishment for presumption and foolish folly, I dared to risk death in citing old records from the books, extrapolating the intention of the supreme sage, and respectfully composing annotations to the patriarchal chart, which likewise refers to the previously promulgated *Transmission of the Dharma and Bestowal of the Robe by the Patriarchal Masters*. Yet what initially threw our ancestral lineage into disorder and led the scholars of the empire astray was none other than the *Record of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasury*; and what rectifies its ancestral lineage and settles the disputes of myriad generations is none other than the *Dhyāna Sutra*. The appearance of the *Dhyāna Sutra* preceded the *Record of the Transmission of the Dharma [Treasury]* by sixty-two years; its beginning and end are fully recorded, and the twenty-eight patriarchs already appeared during the Jin dynasty. The *Record of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasury* was incomplete after the abolition of the teaching under Emperor Taiwu, and only spoke of twenty-four generations when it appeared in the Northern Wei. When tested precisely against the *Dhyāna Sutra*, the *Record of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasury* indeed proves to be erroneous. As for the Tathāgata's having solely and esoterically entrusted the treasury of the true Dharma eye to Mahākāśyapa, this is seen in the *Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra*, the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa*, and the *Dhyāna Sutra* together with its preface. Seeking it by its meaning, the Buddha's subtle purport is present therein. His Majesty's sagacious nature is lofty and wondrous, uniquely grasping what lies beyond words and speech; this is indeed a natural endowment and the Buddha's prediction. Therefore, what he has unfolded regarding the Chan patriarchs is in elegant harmony with the sutras, and is fittingly bequeathed to myriad generations as an eternal and definitive verdict. Let the Buddhist disciples of the three trainings revere and look up to it, so that the empire will doubt no more. Those listed in the chart, from Śākyamuni Buddha and Mahākāśyapa down to the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi, Chan Master Dajian, comprise thirty-four ranks in all. In addition, worthies of Confucianism and Buddhism whose words concerning our ancestral lineage have long had evidential backing—ten ranks in all—are arrayed to the left and right of the various patriarchs. Respectfully following the *Chuanfa zhengzong ji*, I proceeded to the imperial court to present it upward. In defiling the imperial gaze, I am overcome with boundless dread and trembling. Respectfully prefaced.